Category: Mental Health

Public Health

Current awareness updates

The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Intimate Partner Violence and Mental Health.
The Mental Elf; 2022.
(Rachel Milligan summarises the recently published Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Intimate Partner Violence and Mental Health, which establishes a roadmap for strengthening responses across mental health services, research, and policy.)

Indicator: Hospital admissions as a result of self-harm in children and young people.
Nuffield Trust; 2022.
(Early identification, accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of mental health conditions can help to prevent self-harm and suicide in children and young people. Self-harm is when somebody intentionally damages or injures their body, and is a common way of coping with or expressing overwhelming emotional distress. Hospital admission rates are a useful measure of intentional self-harm, and an indicator of how well we are preventing this suffering from occurring.)

Finding an NHS dentist in England.
House of Commons Library; 2022.
(This page provides information on how to find an appointment with an NHS dentist in England, including a summary of guidance from the NHS and Healthwatch websites. It also provides information on NHS dental charges. The Commons Library debate pack on NHS Dentistry in England (June 2022) – https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2022-0112/ – provides more in-depth, contextual information on Government policy, dental contracts and provision.)

Improving the way family support services work for minority ethnic families.
Early Intervention Foundation (EIF); 2020.
(This report explores the experiences of minority ethnic families in accessing and receiving family support, to better understand the challenges and opportunities in how family support services work for minority ethnic families and young people.)

Improving children and young people’s mental health services Local data insights from England, Scotland and Wales.
The Health Foundation; 2022.
(This briefing presents analysis from the Health Foundation’s Networked Data Lab (NDL) about children and young people’s mental health. The analysis highlighted three key areas for urgent investigation, to help ensure children and young people get the care they need. These are: rapid increases in mental health prescribing and support provided by GPs; the prevalence of mental health problems among adolescent girls and young women; stark socioeconomic inequalities across the UK.)

Public Health

Current Awareness Updates

Risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) for monkeypox outbreaks: Interim guidance, 24 June 2022.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2022.
(This Interim Guidance outlines recommendations, considerations and methods to raise awareness, manage risk perception, maintain trust and proactively support people at risk to make informed decisions to protect themselves and others from monkeypox.)

Addressing local inequalities through employment.
NHS Employers; 2022.
(A series of case studies showcasing how NHS and non-NHS partners are coming together to support people into work.)

Flooding and public mental health: assessment and management UK Health Security Agency (This guidance on flooding and health aims to provide information for public health authorities, emergency services and health professionals on the measures needed to prevent major effects on health arising from floods in England.)

New resources for safeguarding and empowering young people with SEND when online Learning disability today (A UK-based charity has created new resources to safeguard and empower young people with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) when they are online. Childnet’s new project, Thrive Online, is designed to help educators, parents and carers to support young people aged 11 and over to use the internet in a safe and meaningful way. The free resources cover important topics such as digital wellbeing, healthy online relationships and online pornography.)

Cracking Good Food; Promoting Healthy Eating

(Cracking Good Food have created a support booklet that includes a weekly
guide to family meals that are low fuel and nutritious. Their in-house nutritionist has researched current food prices at ALDI and Tesco to compile a guide to create a nutritionally balanced meal plan costing between £45-£60 each week to feed a family of 4.)

Library Bulletin

Serious Mental Illness

The current bulletin for Serious Mental Illness, produced by Merseycare NHS Foundation Trust, is now available to view and download. Some articles may require an Open Athens account to read the full text articles. For support accessing any of the articles within the bulletins please contact: academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk

NCBI-Serious-Mental-Illness-bulletin-June-2022Download

Public Health

Current Awareness Updates

Online support for family carers of people with dementia: what works for their mental health?
The Mental Elf; 2022.
https://www.nationalelfservice.net/populations-and-settings/family-carers/online-support-family-carers-dementia/
(Clarissa Giebel reflects on a recent systematic review which investigates online support for family carers of people with dementia.)

The Khan review: making smoking obsolete.
Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID); 2022.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-khan-review-making-smoking-obsolete
(Independent review by Dr Javed Khan into the government’s ambition to make England smokefree by 2030. The review makes 15 recommendations for government to achieve a smokefree society.)

Safer by Design: How can collaboration help design safer gambling?
Demos; 2022.
https://demos.co.uk/project/safer-by-design-how-can-collaboration-help-design-safer-gambling/ (Demos and Playtech hosted two roundtables that brought together those in the industry with gambling experts from academia, charities and policy. The first looked at the role policy and regulation can play, and sought ideas and input on how the gambling sector could learn from other areas. The second looked at gambling as a health issue, and how stakeholders might draw on progress made in other areas such as digital resilience and wellbeing.)

State of the Nation: A comprehensive, retrospective view of NHS data.
Wilmington Healthcare; 2022.
https://wilmingtonhealthcare.com/state-of-the-nation/
(This report looks at key data trends over the course of the pandemic, establishing how new trends in health care activity, patient numbers, disease burden, NHS operational practice, prescribing and regional variation have emerged. The report groups the data into six key areas: hospital episode statistics; demographic segmentation; therapy area analysis; referral to treatment; prescribing insights; and regional insights.)

Mental health and loneliness: the relationship across life stages.
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; 2022.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-loneliness-the-relationship-across-life-stages
(This report presents the findings from a qualitative study exploring the experiences of loneliness among those who had experienced a mental health condition. Previous research has shown there is a link between experiences of loneliness and poor mental health. The DCMS commissioned the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to explore this issue across four key life stages as part of developing the evidence base for work on tackling loneliness.)


Royal College of Psychiatrist

Eliminating inappropriate out of area placements in mental health

Source: Royal College of Psychiatrist

The government’s deadline to eliminate inappropriate out of area placements for adult acute patients by the end of March 2021 has now been missed by a full year. Sometimes hundreds of miles away from home, patients are unable to access their usual support networks while at their most vulnerable, often finding their care seriously disrupted, with long-term implications for their recovery. The NHS spent £102 million on inappropriate out of area placements in the 12 months up to and including March 2022 – the equivalent to the cost of the annual salary of more than 900 consultant psychiatrists. This briefing sets out the urgent action the NHS should take to ensure all patients get the care they need from properly staffed, specialist services in their local area.  

Mental health and loneliness

The relationship across life stages

Source: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

This report presents the findings from a qualitative study exploring the experiences of loneliness among those who had experienced a mental health condition. Previous research has shown there is a link between experiences of loneliness and poor mental health. The DCMS commissioned the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to explore this issue across four key life stages as part of developing the evidence base for work on tackling loneliness.

Tackling mental health disparities

Centre for Mental Health 

Source:King’s Fund

Mental health inequalities mean that while it is true that anyone can experience mental ill health, the risks are much higher for certain groups who experience structural discrimination and disadvantage. This briefing sets out 10 evidence-based actions that the government could take in the forthcoming disparities White Paper. Read the briefing here.

Public Health

Current Awareness Updates

Monkeypox cases reported in the WHO European Region.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2022.

(Links to 2 reports: Monkeypox – United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; and Monkeypox – Key facts. While the number of cases in the Region is still relatively small, what is concerning is that some of the cases appear to have been acquired in the Region without a link to travel to countries where monkeypox is known to be endemic. Many cases have been detected in clinics specialized in sexually transmitted infections.)

Mental Health Awareness Week 2022: Loneliness.
House of Commons Library; 2022.

(How does loneliness affect our mental health and what the Government has done to address the issue?)

Vaccine uptake in the general population.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE); 2022.

(This guideline aims to increase the uptake of all vaccines provided on the NHS routine UK immunisation schedule by everyone who is eligible. It supports the aims of the NHS Long Term Plan, which includes actions to improve immunisation coverage by GPs (including the changes to vaccinations and immunisations detailed in the 2021/2022 and 2022/23 GP contracts) and support a narrowing of health inequalities.)

The over-representation of Black people as restricted patients in secure hospitals. Nuffield Trust chart of the week.
Nuffield Trust; 2022.

(People with severe mental health problems who are in contact with the criminal justice system can be held as restricted patients in hospitals if they have been assessed as needing treatment. Miranda Davies takes a closer look at new data that shows that 16% of restricted patients in hospital are Black or Black British, despite only making up 3% of the general population.)

Smoking bans in prisons improve health and reduce medications.
NIHR Evidence; 2022.

(This study found that the smoking ban did not affect dispensing for mental health conditions which suggests that it did not increase levels of depression. However, the researchers caution that there may have been an impact on mental health since, in the interviews, some prisoners reported raised anxiety levels. Improvements in respiratory health were especially marked. Removing second-hand smoke from prisons also improved working conditions for staff.)

Public Health

Current Awareness Updates

Improving inclusion in health and care research: reflections and next steps.
HSR UK; 2022.

(In autumn 2021 HSR UK, the Nuffield Trust, The King’s Fund, The Health Foundation and PPI representatives from The Health Foundation Inclusion Panel co-developed a series of events to address improving inclusion in health and care research. This report shares insights from the expert speakers who participated in events, as well as reflections and learnings from running the series.)

Key findings from Healthwatch England’s national dental polling in 2022.
Healthwatch; 2022.

(A representative poll of 2,026 adults based in England on attitudes to NHS dentistry shows that half of the adults in England find dental charges unfair amid escalating living costs. More than two in five respondents (40 per cent) said they found it difficult to book an NHS dental appointment, while one in five (20 per cent) couldn’t access all the treatments they needed. Healthwatch England has warned decision-makers that NHS dentistry is in desperate need of reform.)

Smoking and social housing: Supporting residents, addressing inequalities.
Housing Learning and Improvement Network (HLIN); 2022.

(This report is a collaboration between Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and the Housing Learning and Improvement Network (LIN). It outlines the case for reducing rates of smoking in the social housing sector as part of social landlords’ health and wellbeing activities and the action needed to achieve this.)

A picture of health? Bridging the gap between physical and mental healthcare in adult mental health inpatient settings.
National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD); 2022.

(This report suggests that a physical health care plan should be developed when patients are admitted to a mental health inpatient setting. Other key messages aimed at improving care include calls to: formalise clinical networks/pathways between mental health and physical health care; involve patients and their carers in their physical health care, and include mental health and physical health conditions on electronic patient records.)


The Impact of Dementia on Women.
Alzheimer’s Research UK; 2022.

(This report calls for action to tackle dementia’s disproportionate impact on women and to ensure women can make a full contribution to research, both as participants and as researchers.)